Toy and teaching watch, particularly diver-watch

ABSTRACT

A toy and/or teaching watch is disclosed which comprises a case consisting of an open top upper part and a bottom part, a handoperable movement mounted on a platen for driving a minute and an hour hand in the correct relative ratio and consisting of an operating knob mounted on one end of an arbor having a larger diameter portion and being rotatably mounted in two lugs bent at right angles out of a platen, said platen and a dial attached thereto having registering windows for displaying other information provided on a crown wheel which meshes with gear teeth on the arbor and carries one hand, whereas a second crown wheel meshing with a pinion on the arbor is coaxially mounted with the first crown wheel and carries the other hand.

United States Patent 91 Picard et al.

[in 3,791,048 [451 Feb. 12,1974

[ TOY AND TEACHING WATCH,

PARTICULARLY DIVER-WATCH [75] Inventors: Frank Picard, Eitorf, Sieg; Ludwig Becker, Vollmersbach, both of Germany [73] Assignee: Sohni & C0. GmbH, Hauptstrasse,

Germany [22] Filed: Nov. 13, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 305,845

[52] US. Cl 35/39, 58/106, 58/139 [51] Int. Cl. G09b 19/12 [58] Field of Search 35/39; 58/106, 139

[56] References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,049,988 8/1953 France 35/39 Primary ExaminerWm. H. Grieb 57 ABSTRACT A toy and/or teaching watch is disclosed which comprises a case consisting of an open top upper part and a bottom part, a hand-operable movement mounted on a platen for driving a minute and an hour hand in the correct relative ratio and consisting of an operating knob mounted on one end of'an arbor having a larger diameter portion and being rotatably mounted in two lugs bent at right angles out of a platen, said platen and a dial attached thereto having registering windows for displaying other information provided on a crown wheel which meshes with gear teeth on the arbor and carries one hand, whereas a second crown wheel meshing with a pinion on the arbor is coaxially mounted with the first crown wheel and carries the other hand.

3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures Patented Feb. 12, 1974 TOY AND TEACHING WATCH, PARTICULARLY DIVER-WATCH FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to toy or teaching watches and particularly to toy diving watches.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Toy watches which show time as well as days and months are already known (see for example German Gebrauchsmuster No. 1,981,779).

The object of the present invention is to improve the movement of this known type of toy watch by features that will protect the same for damage caused by impetuous handling and manipulation and at the same time modify the same to represent a diving watch.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION According to this invention this object is achieved by having ends of an enlarged diameter portion of an arbor extend substantially into adjacence with lugs. The arbor carries a pinion slightly offset from the watch center to mesh with a crown wheel carrying one of a set of hands, whereas one end of the enlarged diameter portion itself forms a gear meshing with teeth of an other crown wheel carrying an other hand.

The advantage afforded by this invention is that the arbor cannot be very easily pulled out of the case by its knob or destroyed by impetuous manipulation or curiosity because the larger diameter portion of the arbor limits lateral play of the components of the movement between the two lugs and thus makes it impossible to pull the arbor and its parts out of the case or to cause the meshing gears to be forced out of mesh. The proposed locking arrangement can be further improved if the end of the staff of one of the crown wheels projects sufficiently far towards the arbor to form a stop face for retaining the pinion mounted on the enlarged diameter portion of the arbor alongside said staff end. The pivot end of the arbor may then be shortened to facilitate threading it into the hole in the lug.

To enable such a toy watch to be worn when bathing and diving, all its parts may be made of water and corrosion resistant materials.

Toy watches have also been proposed which have a fixed setting ring bearing index marks affixable to the watch case.

However, children naturally'desire to turn and adjust the setting ring in the same way as is done in a real diving watch.

' According to another feature of the invention this can be achieved by rotatably interposing the setting ring between the watch glass and the open-top upper part of the case, whilst at the same time providing the setting ring with ribs. Such a ring can then be easily adjusted with a thumb nail both above and below water. The ribs may simultaneously serve as index marks in relief.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a more complete understanding of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a toy diving watch fitted with a wrist strap constructed in accordance with the teachings of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan'view of the internal mechanics of the watch of FIG. 1 showing the platen and movement thereof;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line A B of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is an exploded side view of one-half of the upper part of the case, the setting ring and the watch glass, as used in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIG. 1, a wrist straplO is drawn through transverse strap holders 11 attached to the bottom part of a watch case. This bottom part cannot be seen in the drawing. Hands are arranged to move above a dial 12 held in position by the rim 10a of the upper part of the case and the edge of a watch glass 22 made of waterproof material (see FIG. 4). Mounted below both the dial 12 and a platen .16 (see FIGS. 1 and 3) is a disc 13 bearing a scale indicating depth or pressure, which can be read through registering windows 14, 15 provided in the dial 12 and in the platen 16. As will be understood by reference to FIG. 2, two lugs 17a and 17b are cut out of the platen 16 and erected to provide bearings for an arbor 18. The arbor 18 carries a setting wheel (operating knob) 19 and is mounted in the right hand lug 17a in a slot whereas its other end 18a is journalled in the usual manner in a hole in the left hand lug 17b. Between the two lugs 17a and 17b the arbor 18 has an enlarged diameter portion 18b carrying a slightly eccentrically placed pinion 180 which meshes with a small crown wheel 20 on a short staff carrying the minute hand, whereas the end adjacent lug 17b is itself provided with gear teeth 18d adjoined by the pivot end 18a of the arbor. The gear teeth 18d of the enlarged diameter portion meshes with the teeth 21a of a second larger crown wheel 21 formed with a hub 21b rotatably mounted in the center of the platen 16. On its underside, this crown wheel bears a waterproof thin disc bearing a scale indicating pressure or water depth. In real diving watches, this crown wheel 20 is naturally coupled to a pressure-responsive element. In a cheap toy watch all that matters is the geared connection between the indicating disc and the operating knob 19.

In order to prevent the arbor 18 from lifting out of engagement with the crown wheels 21 and 20 and to secure the arbor against axial pull, the arbor is located firstly by the right hand end'of the enlarged diameter portion 18b of the arbor beingretained by the annulus of teeth on the crown wheel 21 and/or by the pinion 18c running against the end 20b (see FIG. 3) of the staff carrying the smaller diameter crown wheel 20 when the attempt is made to pull the staff to the right. The described retaining means having the advantage that a' tilting moment applied to the larger diameter crown wheel 21 tends slightly to lift the smaller diameter crown wheel 20 and hence to make the staff end even more reliable as a stop. Deliberate outward pull on the knob, provided it is not excessive, will already readings of depth or pressure. A full revolution of the hour hand in the illustrated embodiment will correspond to a full 360 revolution of the depth or pressure indicating disc 13.

' A setting ring 23 is rotatably located, so that it cannot be removed, between the watch glass 22 and the inside of the rim of the open top upper part a of the case which embraces it. For this purpose, the setting ring 23 in section has a peripheral flange 23a and its upper face bears figures in relief and/or has radial ribs 23b possibly forming intermediate index marks. Moreover, the edge of the setting ring may be milled.

It will be readily understood that the rotatable setting ring 23 could also be used in association with movements differing from that which has been described and that the invention is not intended to be limited to a particular kind of movement.

What is claimed is:

1. In a toy or teaching watch which comprises a case consisting of an open top upper part and a bottom part, a platen having two lugs extending at right angles therefrom, a minute hand, an hour hand, a hand operable movement mounted on said platen for driving said minute and said hour hands in the correct relative ratio, an arbor having a larger diameter central cylindrical portion with gear teeth thereon, said arbor also having smaller diameter end portions fitting within said lugs, said hand operable movement consisting of an operating wheel mounted on one of said smaller diameter end portions, a first crown wheel which meshes with said gear teeth on said arbor and carries one of said hands,

a pinion mounted on said arbor, a second crown wheel meshing with said pinion on said arbor coaxially mounted with said first crown wheel for carrying said other of said hands, the improvement comprising that the larger diameter central cylindrical portion of the arbor extends substantially between both lugs, that said larger diameter portion carries said pinion slightly offset from the watch center in the direction of said arbor free from said operating wheel, said pinion having a greater diameter than said larger diameter of said arbor, which pinion meshes with said second crown wheel, said arbor having said gear teeth of said larger diameter central portion adjacent the other small diameter end portion, said gear teeth meshing with said first crown wheel, and the other end of said larger diameter cylindrical portion extending to the inner surface of said first crown wheel, whereby the arbor is restrained from axial movement by reason of the relationship between said larger diameter central portion, said gear and pinion, and said first and second crown wheel.

2. The toy or teaching watch of claim 1 including a dial face mounted between said hands and said first crown wheel, said dial face having an opening therein exposing said first crown wheel, and indicating means on said first crown wheel positioned to be seen through said dial face opening.

3. In a toy or teaching watch asclaimed in claim 1, also containing atiming ring rotatably interposed between the watch glass and the open top part of the case. 

1. In a toy or teaching watch which comprises a case consisting of an open top upper part and a bottom part, a platen having two lugs extending at right angles therefrom, a minute hand, an hour hand, a hand operable movement mounted on said platen for driving said minute and said hour hands in the correct relative ratio, an arbor having a larger diameter central cylindrical portion with gear teeth thereon, said arbor also having smaller diameter end portions fitting within said lugs, said hand operable movement consisting of an operating wheel mounted on one of said smaller diameter end portions, a first crown wheel which meshes with said gear teeth on said arbor and carries one of said hands, a pinion mounted on said arbor, a second crown wheel meshing with said pinion on said arbor coaxially mounted with said first crown wheel for carrying said other of said hands, the improvement comprising that the larger diameter central cylindrical portion of the arbor extends substantially between both lugs, that said larger diameter portion carries said pinion slightly offset from the watch center in the direction of said arbor free from said operating wheel, said pinion having a greater diameter than said larger diameter of said arbor, which pinion meshes with said second crown wheel, said arbor having said gear teeth of said larger diameter central portion adjacent the other small diameter end portion, said gear teeth meshing with said first crown wheel, and the other end of said larger diameter cylindrical portion extending to the inner surface of said first crown wheel, whereby the arbor is restrained from axial movement by reason of the relationship between said larger diameter central portion, said gear and pinion, and said first and second crown wheel.
 2. The toy or teaching watch of claim 1 including a dial face mounted between said hands and said first crown wheel, said dial face having an opening therein exposing said first crown wheel, and indicating means on said first crown wheel positioned to be seen through said dial face opening.
 3. In a toy or teaching watch as claimed in claim 1, also containing a timing ring rotatably interposed between the watch glass and the open top part of the case. 